Buying A Laptop? Insure It.

Consumer Reports figures that there's a 43% chance your laptop will need repairs in the first three to four years. Among the top laptop wreckers: accidental damage and meltdown from a power surge. Those woes are not covered by most manufacturers' extended warranties, including AppleCare.

But some insurers, among them Safeware (800-800-1492; www.safeware.com), offer lap-top coverage. Repairing the screen on an $1,100 MacBook -- destroyed by, say, a slip off the kitchen table -- can easily run $400. But Safeware will insure a MacBook against accidental damage (including drops, falls and liquid spills) for about $70 per year with no deductible.